How is it lost? If Foxconn doesn't decide to open up shop in Wisconsin....is there a magic gain in revenue?
Where is the state losing this money with Foxconn showing up? Where is the government actually SPENDING this money?
You made a general comment that "The idea that giving a tax incentive to someone is COSTING the government anything is also a flawed concept." It's not - tax incentives are foregone revenue and they have to be made up by other taxpayers, or spending must be cut. It's just math.
But if you want to talk specifically about Foxconn, they're getting at least $hundreds of billions in "refundable tax credits" which are just cash subsidies, grants, government giveaways administered through the tax system. The government will be spending money like they always do - writing checks of 7 or 8 or 9 figures to Foxconn every year.
And for the pure "tax incentives" - tax savings - Foxconn will consume considerable state resources, and is paying nothing for them. So the government is asking all the other taxpayers in WI to carry the load for Foxconn. That's fine, but you can't pretend that Foxconn doesn't consume any state resources as an excuse for them to not pay taxes, or enjoy tax breaks specifically granted to them and them alone. Any way you look at it, they are taxpayer subsidies of a multinational behemoth.
Because if I owed you $10, I actually received something to start with in order to owe you that $10. What good or service or direct funds did Wisconsin provide to Foxconn in order for there to be a "debt" in the first place?
Like every business in WI, they enjoy infrastructure, employ workers educated by public K-12 and public colleges in the state, police, airports, etc. all the stuff the state does to make WI a good place to do business.
As per your very last line..... I agree. However, Foxconn isn't currently receiving any government funds. Are you honestly saying that Foxconn's presence would actually cause the state's budget to have to be increased by an amount equaling the tax incentive deal? In what area of government services would Foxconn's presence be causing the state to have to spend this extremely large amount of money?
They are receiving state funds:
Assembly approves $3 billion Foxconn bill.
Under Assembly Special Session Bill 1, the state would pay Foxconn up to $2.85 billion in cash over the next 15 years as the company makes investments in its plant and equipment and in paying its workers. The state would also waive an additional $150 million in sales taxes on construction materials.
But even if they weren't paying them actual cash out the door, the value of the services is still real.
Not really understanding your point otherwise. I'm not even arguing that this deal is bad - I suspect it's terrible because that's what lots of the analyses of these mega incentive packages show, but who knows. I'm just pointing out that we should call these thing what they are - massive taxpayer funded deals for behemoth multinational companies that will require the rest of Wisconsin to foot the bill for Foxconn for a couple decades.
